Drug conviction overturned
Published: June 5, 2009
A Sneads man sent to prison on gun and drug charges won his freedom Wednesday when the First District appeals court overturned his conviction and upheld his claim that improper evidence was allowed at his trial. According to the Florida Department of Corrections Web site, Joel Douglas Lollie, 35, was sent to prison for eight years on charges of possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, possession of listed chemicals and attempted sale or delivery of methamphetamine.
Lollie was arrested in October 2007, and convicted in March of last year.
Attorneys for Lollie had argued at his original trial that Circuit Judge William Wright should not have allowed presentation of evidence observed after Jackson County sheriff’s deputies entered Lollie’s back yard on Leatherneck Trail without a warrant.
According to court records, the officers had gone to Lollie’s property to question him about allegations of ongoing criminal activity at his residence.
Getting no answer when they knocked on the front door, they went to the back door and knocked, also getting no response. While there, an officer “observed incriminating evidence behind the residence” indicating the presence of a meth lab, and a search warrant was then obtained.
According to the appeals court opinion, Lollie had a constitutional right to privacy that the officers breached. The appeals court ruled that deputies were entitled to approach the front door, but the warrantless entry into the back yard was unlawful.
The deputies stated they went to the back door because they believed someone was inside and was either unwilling to come to the front door or was unable to hear the knocking.
“The constitutional protection and expectation of privacy in the side and backyard area of the home does not depend on whether someone might be home, or if visitors may sometimes be received at a location other than the front door,” the appeals court wrote.
The appeals court ruled the lower court judge should have suppressed the related evidence at the trial as Lollie’s attorneys had requested.
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Reader Reactions
In response to ABC123, no you are right I do not know Joe Lollice,as you called him but I do know how a chosen few at the JCSO work, I have not written in here a single word that I can’t back up with facts, I am all for enforcing the law, when it is done honestly, professionally and without bias, however when you lower your standards to include lying,falsifying reports, bogus evidence, and lower yourself to breaking the law then yes I feel like you should be held accountable. In law enforcement you should have respect from the citizens you serve but when you do the things that I have seen them do, and I know without a shadow of a doubt I am not the only one in this county that has witnessed the lies, unlawful acts, perjury,bearing false witness, falsification of reports, hiding the truth, I could go on and on but to be quite honest with you I don’t feel like arguing with an idiot who will pull me down to their level and beat me with experience!!!
I speak from knowledge and facts and evidently you are an authority on dope dealers, I am the Mother of a Meth addict, I have researched everything I can possibly research on the subject and you are right about one thing without the help and a good support group and alot of prayer some addicts never recover but with every breath in me mine will, but no thanks to people like you, why don’t you get a job with the task force you would fit right in!!!! I would put my brain in a run against yours anytime. May God Bless You and peel the crust off your eyes so that you can see.
Mothers Against Meth, if you know Joe Lollice you should also know that he is a low life dope dealer and always has been. You may want to change your screen name to mothers who love dope dealers. People get a grip, at least the officers was trying to get drugs off the street from meth cooks and yall want to defend these peices of trash that destroy the community. Hey dope dealer lover check and see how many prior drug offenses sweet little meth making Joe has. Perhaps you can purchase a few grams from him now that he is out because he will be making meth again soon, and he will be caught again. Thank you for not having a brain.
Thank God!! whoever was listening in appeals court knows the laws and could see that some of the JCSO makes them up as they go, depending on who you are,or who you know. To many times they lock people up for criminal acts and commit a greater crime in the paperwork and false accusations,trumped up evidence to either make themselves look like they are really doing things for the community, or for personal retalliation. The community can say something has been done when Lou Roberts, Judge Wright, and the States Attorneys Office take a hard look at the way things have been done in these investigations/arrest/reports/etc. that contains pure out and out lies, and obvious wrong doing by the very ones that our tax dollars pay to do a job that consist of serving and protecting, time and time again that they have failed to do honestly witout bias or retalliation. Good Luck Joe, I hope you do well, you and your family are in my prayers, Don’t be discouraged by comments left on here by people who evidently don’t have a clue, I doubt Johnny Mac was anywhere around this mans house when the officers were gathering up the evidence, and he is not around now and nothing has changed except hopefully the new administration will cull the criminals that are working in the department and not turn a blind eye from corruption.
Way to go then Sheriff Johnny Mac.Just another dope dealer put back on the street because of shoddy police work.THANK GOD FOR LOU ROBERTS.
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